Update info

Saturday, May 20, 2017

Jamaica. The country has been hit by widespread flooding and a
flash-flood warning has been issued for ten parishes, according to media
reports...Read more

United States.

1.A shallow magnitude 4.0
earthquake was reported Wednesday evening 76 miles from Petrolia, Calif.,
according to the U.S. Geological Survey...Read more

2.An outbreak of severe thunderstorms
with tornadoes, large hail and wind damage was expected across parts of the
southern and central Plains into the overnight hours…Read more

3.A flooding, brought on by torrential
downpours, was mostly reported in the city's East Ward of Newark, N.J. Emergency
responders, some using a boat and amphibious vehicle, rescued 29 people
stranded by flood waters…Read more

4.A series of storms throughout the
eastern part of the Texas Panhandle produced four tornadoes that were spotted
Tuesday afternoon and caused heavy damage in some parts of Wheeler County…Read more

5.The USGS recorded a magnitude 4.2
quake at 4:32 a.m. Saturday near Waynoka, about 150 miles (241.39 kilometers)
northwest of Oklahoma City…Read more

6.The North Port brush fire grows to
more than 3,000 acres, forcing portions of I-75 to remain closed
overnight…Read more

Interesting Facts

Flooding in Canada is a
big problem, but few Canadians know they're at risk: study.Nearly all of the 2,300
people surveyed for a new University of Waterloo study did not know or weren't
sure that they lived in a designated flood risk area. Almost 90 per cent were
unaware that their home was in an area vulnerable to flooding...Read more

“Time to Build” Flood Resilient Infrastructure.The lower Midwest is
still recovering after severe flooding swept through the region in early May. While
the chances of multiple major floods happening in a relative short time span is
a possibility, climate change is loading the dice in favor of making such
occurrences all too common. Bad news for infrastructure...Read more

What's new in Disaster
Risk Reduction?

Caribbean region aims to integrate gender equality in disaster risk management in the agriculture sector. In an effort to strengthen the resiliency of communities to disasters in the Caribbean, 25 representatives from 12 countries across the region are participating in a regional training workshop for integrating gender equality in disaster risk management programming for the agriculture sector...Read more

China reaffirms disaster risk cooperation commitment. China’s Minister of Civil Affairs has reaffirmed his country’s commitment to increasing international cooperation to address the common challenge of disasters...Readmore

How cities are helping lead the world’s disaster risk reduction efforts. With over half of the world’s population living in urban environments, the actions of city leaders and local stakeholders could prove to be powerful agents of change in achieving the goals of the Sendai Framework to build meaningful resilience and disaster risk reduction across the globe...Read more

UNDP & the Sendai
Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. UNDP’s
disaster risk reduction (DRR) efforts help countries achieve the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) by both delivering and protecting development gains
from the impacts of disasters and climate change. By working with governments
and partners towards ‘risk-informing’ national, local and sectoral development
planning processes...Read more

Friday, May 5, 2017

The U.S. Geological Survey says a magnitude-6.3
aftershock has shaken the corner of British Columbia, near the boundary with
Alaska, nearly two hours after a magnitude-6.2 earthquake hit the same area...Read more

An Argentine mountain climber is stranded alone about halfway up Canada's highest peak, braving high winds and awaiting a rescue that may still be days away...Read more

Cuba. Almost 1 Million Cubans Impacted by Intense Drought; the reservoirs on the island are registering 36.5 percent of their filling capacity. In the central provinces of Sancti Spiritus, Ciego de Avila and Camaguey, where the drought is especially acute, reservoirs are below 25 percent...Read more

Dominican Republic. Torrential rains put thousands more at risk of flooding and disease, more heavy rains are expected in the Dominican Republic over the next couple of weeks, more than 9,000 people have already been forced to leave their homes into shelters as heavy rains and flooding have swept over southern Dominican Republic since late April...Read more

United States.

1.At least 10 people have been killed by tornadoes or
flooding in the South and Midwest by a storm that also dumped a rare
late-season blizzard in western Kansas on Sunday...Read more

2.Dozens of
firefighters were battling a brush fire that broke out in the Highgrove
community of Riverside County Sunday afternoon and was spreading rapidly,
threatening several homes; in Highgrove, California...Read more

3.Thunder
storms ripped across Texas, the South and Midwest this weekend killing at least
15 and spawning tornadoes and floods that left parts of the countryside
devastated...Read more

4.Southwest
Missouri received considerable amounts of rain late Friday night and into
Saturday. Areas are flooded, roadways are closed, sink holes in some parts and
the town of Seneca is completely closed down due to the flooding...Read more

Interesting
Facts

Earthquake
probability maps show nearly all of Japan at risk.Compared with the 2016 data released in June, the
sharpest rise in probability for an intensity-6 quake was around the city of
Sanyo-Onoda in Yamaguchi Prefecture. It increased by 3.6 percentage points to
17.1 percent...Read more

How drone swarms
could help protect us from tornadoes.In the
future, envisions meteorologists flying drone swarms into severe weather to
measure the parameters at specific points throughout the storm. Fed into a
computer model, this information could indicate whether a thunderstorm is
likely to turn into a tornado from a safe distance...Read more

Monitoring
groundwater drought without measuring it.Seventy-five percent of EU inhabitants depend on groundwater for their
water supply, which makes groundwater management extremely important. To manage
groundwater effectively during drought periods like 2015, data about
groundwater levels are needed in (near-) real time. However, observations of
groundwater levels are rarely available in real time, even in Europe, one of
the most densely monitored areas of the world...Read more

Researchers
develop radar simulator to characterize scattering of debris in tornadoes. The first numerical polarimetric radar simulator studies
and characterizes the scattering of debris particles in tornadoes and transmits
radio wave pulses horizontally and vertically...Read more

What's new in Disaster Risk
Reduction?

Arab region sets stance for Global
Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction. The Doha
Declaration focuses on the Arab Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction 2030, with
a strong emphasis on aligning the region’s efforts with the Sendai Framework
for Disaster Risk Reduction, a 15-year plan adopted by the international
community in 2015...Read more

Caribbean Rolls Out Plans to Reduce Climate Change
Hazards. The regional plan of action
you will adopt . . . will help and guide national and local governments in
their efforts to strengthen the links between the 2030 agenda for Climate
Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction...Read more

Ottawa gets it right on funding for disaster
mitigation. The investment is designed to reduce the almost
$9-billion spent by the federal government in unbudgeted disaster relief
expenditures from 2005 projected through 2020...Read more

Overcoming Barriers to Meeting the
Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. Canada’s adoption
of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction represents an important
opportunity to manage flood risk, which is the most common and costly hazard
facing Canadians...Read more

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On behalf of the Section for Risk Management and Adaptation to Climate Change, RISK-MACC, Department of Sustainable Development, Executive Secretariat for Integral Development, General Secretariat of the Organization of American States. Visit our website

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